Orrovian Verbs
Overview Orrovian is unique among the romance languages in that it has largely replaced the Latin verb system with new forms, which were derived either from the meaning of existing tenses changing or from the grammaticalization of periphrastic forms. The result is that Orrovian has quite a large conjugation system compared to other Romance languages, yet the tenses don't often resemble those from Latin. Non-Finite Forms Infinitive Only the present infinitive survived from Latin. The infinitive works both like a tenseless and subject-less verb, and as a noun meaning "the act of doing that verb". "mi xiovo cantar" -- I like to sing / I like singing. "vam vender lo a'fforu" -- We are going to sell it at the market. "vole divertisi a Trabazzu" -- He wants to spend (himself) time in Trabadius. "Questa canta non cantazere sere!" -- That song is not to be sung! Participles Orrovian kept three participial forms from Latin, which turned into the present, past, and future participles. Present Used as an adjective, to describe a thing doing the verb. "la marita parziente" -- the leaving wife Gerund Used as an adverb, to describe the manner of another verb or as the means by which that verb was preformed, or the state of the subject while preforming the verb. In this sense it is often translated as the -ing ending of English, but it does not share many of the uses of the english gerund. For example, "mi xiovo cantando" would not be translated as "I like singing" but rather as "I, (while) singing, am pleased." "corre cantando pella casa" -- he ran singing around the house Past The past participle is the only one which inflects according to gender and number. It can be used as an adjective: "le puelles amates" -- the loved girls It is also important in certain passive constructions (another passive exists, see "passive" section): "sez vendetos" -- they were sold The Imperfective Tenses Present Refers to an action which is presently uncompleted. "essa amo" -- I love her, I am loving her Imperfect Refers to an action in the past which was habitual or uncompleted. "essa amavo" -- I was loving her, I loved her, I have been loving her (over a period of time). Future Refers to an action in the future with no set end point. "essa amaró" -- I will love her, I will be loving her. Present Subjunctive Refers to possible, conjectural, or counterfactual actions in the present or future. "essa amei" -- I might love her. Imperfect Subjunctive Refers to possible, conjectural, or counterfactual uncompleted actions in the past. "essa amarai" -- I might have been loving her. The Perfective Tenses Aorist Refers to a completed past action without present relevance. Differs from the perfect in that it simply states an event. "La libru perdei" -- I lost the book. Perfect Refers to a completed past action with relevance to other times, especially the present. Differs from the aorist in that it states an event with continued relevance. "La libru perdezo" implies that the book is still lost or that there may be some present consequence, while "La libru perdei" does not as strongly suggest this. "La libru perdezo" -- I have lost the book. Pluperfect Refers to an action in the past that has been completed in the past. "La libru perdezzo" -- I had lost the book. Future Perfect Refers to an action in the future that has been completed in the future (relative to another future thing). "La libru perdizeró" -- "I will have lost the book" Aorist Subjunctive Refers to possibilities, conjectures, and counterfactual things in the past that have been completed, without continuing relevance. "La libru perdissei" -- "I might have lost the book" Perfect Subjunctive Refers to possibilities, conjectures, and counterfactual things in the past that have been completed, with continuing relevance. "La libru perdevai" -- "I might have lost the book" Pluperfect Subjunctive Refers to possibilities, conjectures, and counterfactual things in the past that have been completed in the past. "La libru perdivurai" -- "I might have lost the book (by then)" Conditionals Imperfect Like the subjunctive, but dependent on an (explicit or implicit) condition. "essa amari" -- I could love her, I would love her. Perfect A condition-dependent thing in the past, the past equivalent to the conditional. "essa amarevi" -- I could have loved her, I would have loved her. Imperatives Imperatives, or commands, only have two types in Orrovian: Positive, telling what to do, and Negative: Telling what not to do. "Canta!" -- Sing! "Noccanta!" -- Don't sing! "Vendende" -- It must be sold! "Noccantari" -- It/they must not be sung! Passive Voice The passive construction of Latin was completely lost. It's been replaced by a participle + star construction. This construction is somewhere in between a periphrastic and synthetic form, as it still changes to the gender and number of the subject in the participial root. It inflects like a past participle, followed by an appropriately inflected form of 'star', with the space removed. Another common way of forming the passive is simply with ser + past participle, in a periphrastic form. amatasta - she is loved ies amata - she is loved There is a slight semantic difference here however: 'amatasta' means "she is loved at this current time", while "ies amata" means "she is loved, and this is a permanent state or an inherent quality about her". Middle or Reflexive Voice When the subject is acting upon itself, or the subject is not clearly the agent or the patient of a verb, it takes a form where the subject is expressed with an Indirect Object pronoun. It's also used for natural phenomenon with no clear subjects (In english, it + the passive is used here), in sentences like "It's raining". Such verbs only take the third-person singular. In the chart, the "active" forms have a subject: a cloud that's raining, while the middle voice is simply stating the phenmenon: "si piove" = "it's raining" Interrogative Each verb in Orrovian also has an interrogative suffix. In most cases this is pretty simple: